Such an alluring scene was hidden right beneath the desk where she read and painted…
Xue Yunyi fell silent for a moment before closing her book.
The young man seemed utterly oblivious, his movements never pausing for an instant. Her soft skirts were kneaded by those long, elegant hands, forming tiny wrinkles that rippled outward like waves on water.
He finally realized the source of the herbal scent on Xue Yunyi’s body. It must have come from her legs being soaked in medicinal baths too many times, allowing the aroma to seep into her skin, impossible to dispel.
Wu Lang’s eyes darkened slightly. The Eldest Princess’s current condition meant that the baths no longer did much good. To fully cure her, they not only needed to develop an antidote for Madam Wu’s poison formula but also use acupuncture to draw out the accumulated toxins in her body. A single misstep in any of these steps could cause severe harm to the Eldest Princess, so they had to proceed with utmost caution.
Lost in these heavy thoughts, a shadow suddenly fell over him. Xue Yunyi had leaned down to pick up the piece of Cold Moon Gauze that had slipped off his body at some point.
Wu Lang’s face flushed crimson in an instant. Earlier, he had been entirely focused on the Eldest Princess’s matters and hadn’t noticed his own disheveled state. To think he had been kneeling there completely bare right under her eyes—he had no idea how long it had gone on.
“Are you finished?” Xue Yunyi asked softly.
“Y-Yes, finished,” Wu Lang stammered in reply. “But Mistress’s body is so noble; this slave doesn’t dare apply the medicine rashly. Please allow this slave to go back and consider it.”
Just then, familiar footsteps approached from behind the screen. It was Mo Ying, bringing Xue Yunyi’s medicine.
Wu Lang immediately cut himself off, hurriedly wrapping the thin gauze around his body. He quickly lifted his face, looking toward Xue Yunyi like a small beast trapped in desperation, pleading for rescue.
This appearance was pathetic enough already. He didn’t want anyone else to see him like this.
“Your Highness, your medicine is ready.”
The footsteps drew nearer.
Wu Lang’s heart leaped into his throat.
Fortunately, Xue Yunyi swiftly grabbed the thin blanket draped over the arm of her wheelchair and threw it over him. The fleece blanket carried her fragrance—the scent of magnolia.
Panic still lingered in his eyes, but his heart gradually calmed. He shrank closer to her feet.
As soon as Mo Ying rounded the screen, she spotted the slender figure of a young man kneeling under Xue Yunyi’s long desk. She nearly dropped the medicine bowl in shock.
At this hour, the only man permitted in the bedchamber of Azure Cypress Palace was Wu Lang.
The youth seemed to be prostrated at Xue Yunyi’s knees—or perhaps somewhere nearby.
His breathing was unsteady, his back trembling faintly.
Mo Ying blinked, suddenly understanding.
But why—
Was Your Highness so calm at a time like this? She had even calmly picked up a scroll to read?
Xue Yunyi gave a light cough.
Mo Ying quickly averted her gaze and stepped forward properly, setting down the medicine bowl and a dish of candied fruit. “It’s getting late, Your Highness. You should rest. The lamp is so dim; don’t strain your eyes.”
Xue Yunyi glanced at the water clock and said indifferently, “It’s fine. I’ll read for another quarter-hour.”
Yuan Xiubai would enter the capital soon. She needed to finish revising a perfect Water Diversion Map before then. As the Chief Secretary of Lang Province, he should be quite familiar with the disaster situation there. She could ask him to review the map and suggest any needed improvements.
After drinking her medicine, Xue Yunyi dismissed Mo Ying. Only then did the young man at her feet stir, poking out a slightly flushed face to gaze at her and murmur, “Your Highness is still unwell. You should rest early.”
Xue Yunyi ruffled his hair. “Go back to your room and sleep.”
This meant she intended to keep reading.
Wu Lang bit his lip. “Then this slave will keep Mistress company.”
He crawled out from under the warm blanket, lowered his eyes, and knelt quietly to the side, holding his breath as if he were an insensate object.
At first, Xue Yunyi could still concentrate on her reading. But with such a delicate, porcelain-doll-like youth waiting silently beside her—his long, thick raven lashes lowered in mute obedience, as docile as a speechless puppet—how could she settle her mind to study the text?
She sighed softly and finally set the book aside. Turning to Wu Lang, she said, “Never mind. Push This Palace to bed.”
She could rise early tomorrow instead.
“Yes, Mistress.”
Wu Lang stood, carefully circling behind her to push the wheelchair toward the inner chamber.
This was the first time he had been allowed to touch her wheelchair.
The Eldest Princess was very light, but the wheelchair was heavy.
Gazing down at the silky black hair trailing behind her, he recalled the detached, oblivious expression on her face earlier as he massaged her acupoints. A pang of sourness welled up in his heart.
Someone as wonderful as the Eldest Princess shouldn’t be burdened and dragged down by such a heavy shackle.
He would find a way to heal her.
He definitely would.
Wu Lang swore to himself.
At the canopy bed, Xue Yunyi instructed him to go put on proper clothes first. His face red, he murmured assent and hurried into the washroom to make himself presentable.
When he emerged, he saw Mo Ying directing several young eunuchs as they carried things into the hall. More than a dozen Purple Sandalwood Chests sat open on the floor. Four were filled with gleaming silver ingots, while the rest were stuffed haphazardly with all sorts of jade, agates, emeralds, and pearls.
“…The Second Princess is certainly efficient. She couldn’t even wait until dawn—sent them over under cover of night,” Mo Ying remarked, counting the items with a sarcastic edge to her voice. “But she’s awfully stingy too. Only eight thousand taels of silver in total, and padding the rest with this junk she doesn’t want.”
In the candlelight, Wu Lang clearly saw the chest nearest him brimming with pearls of various sizes—snow-white and perfectly round. He pressed his lips together; his mouth seemed to ache faintly again, and his lower abdomen tensed instinctively.
Fortunately, Xue Yunyi called for him just then. Keeping his head down, he hurried over and knelt beside the wheelchair.
“Your Highness, this slave is here.”
Xue Yunyi was sifting through a pile of jade materials of varying qualities and picked out a piece of translucent emerald Azure Grease Jade, examining it in her hand.
Xue Qingzhi had never cared for jade or known much about it, probably assuming they were all worthless trinkets. So she had simply sent them all to make up the number. This Azure Grease Jade was top-grade among jades, and such a flawless piece was exceedingly rare. Fine jade deserved a beauty. The moment she saw it, Xue Yunyi thought of Wu Lang.
“Is this jade pretty?” she asked casually.
The youth raised his eyes for a fleeting instant before quickly lowering them again.
“If Your Highness likes it, then it is pretty.”
Xue Yunyi turned her face to him, looking him up and down.
In the dim lamplight, shadows fell on his slender, submissive nape. That spot had once been shackled by heavy iron manacles, leaving a ring of hideous purple bruises and festering sores. Though healed now, the scars remained like an invisible collar constricting his fragile neck.
She thought for a moment, then tossed the jade back into the chest and instructed Qingdai, “Go to the storeroom and fetch the Xiuyan White Jade that Mother Empress gave This Palace two years ago.”
Mo Ying froze, unable to help asking, “Your Highness, you mean to…”
That Xiuyan White Jade was a rare treasure, said to have been unearthed only after exhausting hundreds of jade mines in the Southern Frontier. Cold-white and crystalline, of exquisite quality—like liquid moonlight cradled in one’s palm.
“Make something to give as a gift,” Xue Yunyi said calmly.
After all, that Azure Grease Jade had come from Xue Qingzhi. She found it tainted. Better to use something of her own. Besides, Ah Lang was so beautiful that only the world’s most precious gem could suit him.
If she remembered correctly, the Xiuyan White Jade was only half the size of an egg—perfect for carving into a Peace Buckle, strung on a fine cord to hang at the youth’s neck and partially conceal the scar without drawing too much attention.
Mo Ying soon returned bearing the jewel in its box. Xue Yunyi wrapped the white jade in a cloth and held it out to Wu Lang, asking gently, “What about this one?”
“…In response to Your Highness, it is very beautiful,” the youth replied, his throat bobbing as he spoke softly with eyes downcast.
The jade was too pure.
Wu Lang even felt that glancing at it was a desecration.
Remembering Xue Yunyi’s earlier words, he clenched his fingers slightly and buried his head even lower.
The Eldest Princess wanted to make something from this jade as a gift—and she had asked his opinion.
It must be… for a man.
He had no idea whom the Eldest Princess intended to give it to, or what manner of man could be worthy of such a pristine treasure.
In that instant, a whirlwind of chaotic thoughts flashed through his mind. He wildly speculated: perhaps the Eldest Princess already had someone she loved, or maybe her marriage had long been arranged. Her solemn intent to craft the gift herself meant it was surely for that beloved.
That person must be a refined and upright scion of a noble house, with an air of purity like a clear mountain spring, untainted by any filth.
Only such a man was fit to stand at the Eldest Princess’s side.
As for him—
Wu Lang pressed his lips together, his eyes growing darker and darker.
He was only fit to grovel humbly in the dust at the Eldest Princess’s feet, gazing up in worship and submission.
Leaving the bedchamber, Wu Lang clutched the Sugar Box to his chest and paused for a long while on the stone steps.
The faint magnolia scent wafted on the night breeze. He inhaled deeply, greedily swallowing the fragrance that belonged to the Eldest Princess before slowly moving his feet toward the side room.
Meanwhile, Xue Yunyi had no idea what was going through the youth’s mind. She only knew he had said the jade was beautiful, so she felt relieved and began pondering the design of the Peace Buckle.
As for the pile of junk that Xue Qingzhi had sent over, Xue Yunyi instructed Mo Ying to sort out anything of value from it. She had her combine those items with the silver and find a reliable person to exchange everything for banknotes—she had plans for the money.
That night, Xue Yunyi slept soundly.
The next morning, after breakfast, she bent over her desk and got to work. Her health was improving steadily, so she spent more and more time there each day. Besides the new Water Diversion Map she’d drawn up, she also devoted considerable effort to carefully revising the policy strategy she had previously submitted to the Emperor.
Two days later, Yuan Xiubai arrived in the capital. Li Fuzhong came personally to invite her to Azure Serenity Pavilion, so she could meet the Top Scholar whom Prime Minister Lin had recommended.
The doors to Azure Serenity Pavilion stood wide open. The place had originally been an abandoned study, but the palace servants had tidied it up nicely. Incense from sandalwood burned inside, filling the air with a soothing scent.
No sooner had Xue Yunyi entered than Xue Qingzhi’s mocking voice rang out. “Eldest Sister’s illness must have cleared up remarkably fast. I thought we might not see you here today.”
Xue Yunyi ignored her as if she were just a chattering bird outside the window. Instead, she turned toward the handsome man standing by the window and inclined her head slightly in greeting.
“I’ve met you, Mr. Yuan. This Palace’s condition makes it inconvenient to bow properly, so I hope you won’t take offense.”
Yuan Xiubai hurriedly cupped his hands in return. “Your Highness is too polite.”
He stole a discreet glance at the Eldest Princess seated in her wheelchair. She had an extraordinarily beautiful face, but it wasn’t the garish sort of beauty. Hers was refined and aloof, gentle yet profoundly serene.
She smiled at him and said, “The journey must have been hard on you, Mr. Yuan.”
Her words carried genuine concern, and Yuan Xiubai found himself bowing his head lower, his demeanor growing even more deferential.
“To teach the Princess is Yuan’s great fortune. I didn’t find the journey hard at all.”